Recently I was blessed to share a message with the ladies of my church. Several people were touched by what I had shared and so I have decided to post what I shared. I hope it blesses you and gives you something to think about...
A Bride... What Does That Mean?
When I look
back to when I was first in love with my husband…
- I knew I needed to purposefully keep my purity in check for him and I felt like I’d prepared to be his wife all my life.
- I did not know him fully, but I adored
him.
- I wanted to be with him, to talk to him all
the time, to be seen with him,
- I wanted to be known as belonging to him
- I even wanted to dress in clothing
he’d appreciate.
- I wanted to know what he thought.
- I dreamed of children someday, and to
have those children look like him and be like him and
- learn our ways as a couple,
- teaching them how we work together as
a team.
- Showing them that their daddy’s ways were
the best route to a good life; a life of love and deep down joy.
- I wanted to do things with our family.
These are just a few of the dreams a Bride may have. These
desires were not labeled in my heart as responsibilities, but joys! Did you know that the church is the “Bride of Christ”? So as
a person who has accepted Christ as her Savior you are His bride, the
fulfillment of which will be at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb referred to in
Revelation.
(Revelation 19:7-9).
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s
holy people.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are
those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These
are the true words of God.”
Those are some of my FAVORITE verses!
If we are followers of Jesus Christ we know that nothing can
separate us from the love of God. Romans
8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
God loves us so much Christ
gave His life for us. He is passionate about us! Even before we were followers! (John 3:16)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We also know that He is always at
work for our best interest. He will take the difficult things in life and make
good of them if we allow Him to do so. (Romans 8:28) 28 And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
He has a plan to prosper us. (Jer. 29:11)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.
He is with us always. (Matthew 28:20b) … And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.”
He wants to have a conversation with
us all the time. (1 Thess. 5:17) 17 pray
continually,
He wants us to think of Him as our
best friend. (John 15:13-15) 13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You
are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call
you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have
made known to you.
It is His joy to have that
relationship with us! (Hebrews 12:2) 2 fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before
him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He is jealous for us. (Exodus 20:2-6) 2 “I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other
gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for
yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to
them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those
who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of
those who love me and keep my commandments.
By the way, God’s jealousy is not man’s jealousy. You know
the scenario, the man comes home, finds his wife in another man’s arms and in
shock goes into a rage! No, God is jealous FOR us, not ABOUT us! He wants our best as we’ve already discussed
and when we do not follow Him closely we lose God’s best for us! He is
jealous for us!
Now that’s a romance!
Did you
notice verse 7 of Revelation19… “…For the
wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” So I started
thinking… What kind of bride am I? What kind of bride are you?
- Do we want to talk to Him in prayer
continuously, knowing and trusting that He is there and wants our best, even
when that means circumstances may be difficult for a while?
- Do we want to know what He thinks
about the decisions we are struggling with?
- Do we want to please Him?
- Do we dress respectfully for Him?
- Do we have spiritual children? In
other words have we told others about this awesome Groom we have and led them
to a saving faith in Him, adding to His children?
- Are we mentoring others, formally or
informally to help them resemble their Father?
- Are we connected to a family of God,
a church family?
- Do we serve God when He asks?
- Are we practicing a life of purity? And
if you are, is it out of love or out of responsibility?
Or do we resemble the world? Married in name only - married,
but have grown weary of it.
Do we sometimes skip church to have our own version of “Sabbath fun”? Hebrews 10:25 says
“not giving up meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and
all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Do we serve God under duress?
Do we hate the word submissive? Do we want to be in control all the time?
Is dealing with the process of having
spiritual children just not something we want to get into?
Have we had an affair with the god
of wealth, family, beauty, popularity? (Or anything else that takes our focus
off of the One True God?) That is adultery, by the way! Is God stepping on our
toes tonight?
But there is
Good News! We - YOU can get that passion back
again! In a good marriage counseling
session, where you have been the unfaithful spouse, the counselor will have you
to look back at when you first met your spouse… recalling the joy of
expectation and the joy of everything being new in your relationship… remembering
the pure joy and the freedom of your love.
The Counselor will lead you to confess your sin of walking away
mentally/spiritually/physically from your spouse. You must ask for forgiveness.
But there is one more step… You must accept forgiveness.
God is that
spouse. Ready to forgive you; ready to start over. He is not going to walk
away. He is still standing at the door and knocking… (Revelation
3:20) 20 Here I am! I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. God is NOT a God of second chances… He’s a
God of ANOTHER chance! No matter how many times you’ve failed He is waiting for
you to return to Him. (2 Cor. 7:1) Therefore, since we have these promises, dear
friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and
spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
If God is
convicting you that you have been unfaithful to Jesus, and you want to make it
right tonight and start fresh you can do that.
I’d also like to speak to those of you who have never prayed and asked
Jesus to be your Savior… The Bible says in Romans 10:9 that…
If
you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So if you have never asked for His
forgiveness and never made a life turning decision to follow His lead, I
believe that God is speaking to your heart right now. You may have known
earthly “love” but you have not known “true love” yet. Jesus loved you so much
that He died in your place for your sin. All you have to do is accept that
gift. He has a place in heaven He is
preparing for each of His loved ones, ones who have made the decision to ask
Him into their life. If you’d like that kind of love in your life, the kind of
love that gives a deep down joy, a deep down peace, even in difficult
situations in life… all it takes is an honest prayer of surrender.
Dear Lord, Jesus,
Thank you for joining
us here. Thank you that You love us. You have seen
the hearts of all reading this. Lord, I ask that your will be done and that no
one leaves this time without getting things right with you. We hold on to Philippians 1:6… “For I
am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”. Please bless everyone who has read this, keeping them safe in your loving arms and we thank you
in the name that is LOVE, Jesus. Amen!
(For more information, you may contact me or go to a church that teaches the Bible as God's truth, His love letter to us.)
Many Blessing,
Until All Have Heard!
